Splurge on Halloween scares in Galveston

By Syd Kearney |
October 18, 2013
| Updated: October 21, 2013 12:15pm

The San Luis Resort offers accommodations and activities for every budget and occasion, ranging from the San Luis Hotel, to the family-friendly Holiday Inn Resort Galveston - On the Beach, and Hilton Galveston Island Resort.

Photo By Nick de la Torre/Staff

Get priority seating in the Grotto at the San Luis with a Halloween-theme overnight package.

If you're looking for a Halloween splurge, consider a weekend at the San Luis Resort in Galveston. The resort is planning two days of spooky fun on Friday and Saturday, including a haunted house on the dreaded 13th floor, a zombie wedding vignette and makeup artists in the lobby to help with Halloween looks.

A Halloween-theme overnight package - $350 a night for Friday or Saturday - includes VIP check-in with zombie escort to your room on the haunted 13th floor, admission to the haunted house, True Blood champagne (yes, it's red!), a breakfast buffet for two, priority seating at the hotel's Steakhouse or Grotto restaurants and "creepy" turndown service.

On Saturday, a full day of Halloween activities are planned, including cookie decorating, a costume contest for kids and trick or treating in the hotel's public areas.

The hotel's poolside lounge, H20, will host a zombie-themed party for ages 21 and up beginning at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Admission to the hotel's haunted house, which is open to the public, is $5. Face-painting is $10 (free for guests of the 13th floor).

The San Luis is located at 5222 Seawall in Galveston; call 409-744-1500 for reservations.

Down the seawall, the 102-year-old Galvez is dealing with ghosts.

The hotel's most documented spirit is the Ghost Bride, who has made herself known to guests who stay in Room 501. Audra was a young woman engaged to a sailor. When she learned his ship had been lost at sea, Audra hanged herself in the hotel.

In October, the story of the Ghost Bride is just one shared during public ghost tours. Each Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday in October, the hotel offers a ghost tour and three-course dinner for $40. Reservations are required and overnight packages are available.